ThePhoBlographer (Click here) is the first website posting a hands-on of the new lens. In short this is what they think about the lens:
– it’s super light and small and very well balanced with the Sony NEX 5n.
– you won’t be able to put a filter on it
– manual focusing works fairly well but still not the best from my initial tests.
– wide open at f2.8, the lens offers hexagonal bokeh balls.
– distortion levels are also relatively acceptable.
– it tends to render all images more towards the blue side
I like Rokinon/Samyang lenses a lot and I recommend you the following two lenses for Alpha mount:
1) The 35mm f/1.4: In US you can find it as Rokinon at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and on [shoplink 7453 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. In Europe the name is Samyang and you can find it on [shoplink 7380 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and with the name Wallimex again on [shoplink 7831 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
2) The 85mm f/1.4: You can get for $274 on Amazon (Click here), branded with the name Rokinon on [shoplink 7456 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and branded with the name Samyang on [shoplink 7454 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
43 Responses
Great. This will be my second E-mount lens (after 18-55).
The only thing going for this lens seems to be the size! 🙁
The image above seems to be distorted. The real one is probably as small as a fish eye can.
Yes .. The type of distortion this fisheye produces is quite pleasing, IMO .. It makes sense somehow .. 🙂
Where can i pre-order?
Distortion??!! Isn’t te distortion the purpose of a fish eye lens in the first place??
I hope they will produce one for the X Pro-1.
I like the You can’t put a filter on it part. REALLY? what fisheye can you?
In some different fish-eyes, it was possible to install a filter, a gelatine filter, on a ring placed near the rear element of the lens. In some other models, a ring (close to the Aperture ring) rotated a filter turret inside the lens, very close to the rear element of the lens. In most of the cases, a yellow, orange, red and green filters were pre-installed in this kind of device. Since some cameras can simulate these filters in B&W photo (like the X Pro-1), this kind of device is not useful anymore.
You can still do this on this lens with wratten or other gell filters. with no problem. There are about 2 fisheyes ever made that have filter capability. My 30mm fisheye (medium format uses them as rear mount. Not one current fisheye for less then medium formate has a filter mount (front rear or inline) so why is this an issue in the review is my point.
z is referrong to the picture of the Nex & 8mm above in this article not that the lens itself has distortion. That pic looks above weird.
Yeah, it looks like the product shot was taken with a wide angle lens or something.
Hexagonal boke spots wide open? Weird!
because wide open the blades are still in the light path. Which is odd but its a cheap lens.
To give this lens a “fair shake”, the tester should try it on a NEX-5 or a 3 or a 7.
The NEX-5N with its offset lenses is probably not the right camera for it. I had never seen a hexagonal spot with any fisheye!
Frankly, I am a bit surprised at the way such new, pretty much unknown, brands lenses are being introduced. Why bother putting a nice lens mount when they just mount it on any camera they can find and snap away some random shots.
Test on the last generation cams? Not a best idea at least 😉
How about going back to the drawing board and coming up with a decent lens? 😉
I have here an old Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8 fisheye. It does not have to be that good, just decent. 🙂
This is a less distorted image of the product:
http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/jj524/picrumors/rok_2.jpg
Who cares about the bokeh of a fisheye lens?
People who aren’t competent to do reviews?
Really great lens and with fisheye hemi it’s like a super wide angle lens:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/fisheye-hemi.htm
…I already own micro43 lens and I’m gonna buy this lens as soon as possible…;)
“Distortion levels are relatively acceptable”
I’m confused, is this not a fisheye…?
Distortion can come in many shapes and sizes, also for a fisheye.
I wish it’s a 14mm. There is still no good wide angle lens for NEX…Fisheye is not everyone’s taste.
Dear xxx,
Thanks for contacting Sony!
I am sorry to inform you that the shipping date of your order was adjusted again. I know that you’ve been patiently waiting for your order, and the shipping date was adjusted several times.
Based on our system we’ll receive new stocks on April 03. You have an option to cancel your order if you really need the NEX-7 Camera Body before that date. Just let me know and I’ll cancel it for you. If you’re willing to wait we’ll make sure to prioritize your order once new stocks arrive in our warehouse.
Please let me know your decision so I can assist you right away. Again, I am really sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you.
Thanks for choosing Sony; I really appreciate you taking the time to contact us personally!
Sincerely,
Jerico
Sony Customer Care
http://www.store.sony.com
Harris Poll 2011 EquiTrend® “Consumer Electronics Brand of the Year”
I’m so tired of their canned responses…
Yeah they should personally respond to the 11,000 emails they probably get a day. Jerks.
I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sure you can understand how I feel when something I’ve been really looking forward to gets delayed. When that glorious day comes, I look forward to a shipping confirmation, but instead I get nothing. I have to write or call in to check the status, and Sony usually gives me a delayed date for another month with a CR.
This time, it’s April, and I pre-ordered in September. 🙁
If you don’t think customers deserve some kind of email with a proper promise of a shipping date (on a thousand dollar camera) without having to write in every time the estimated shipping date comes and goes… well, you sir have a saintly patience, and I mean that with all sincerity.
I really don’t get it, why get this when the adapter is WAY cheaper? And at the same time, you’ll have a 16mm as well WITH AF. The fisheye adapter and the Rokinon both give a 180° view angle and f/2.8. Anyone has got image quality comparison?
This is what I have from my 16mm f/2.8 with FE adapter
http://williamleong.blogspot.com/2012/01/fisheye-in-singapore.html
Great use of the fisheye! I guess I’ll consider getting it now.
16mm + adapter suffers from strong CA
This samyang must be better (even SLR version is OK, this should be even better).
The SLR version is MUCH better than this. This is down right ugly despite its cute size.
What is “this”? 16mm + adapter?
If “this” is 16mm + adapter I’m completely agree. But if it is the samyang 8mm f2.8 I completely disagree, because even m43 samyang 7.5 f3.5 outperforms SLR variant both in resolution and CA handling. I have no doubt it would be the same with E-mount version, due to short flange distance of these mirrorless cams, which greatly reduces the complexity of WA lenses.
“I have no doubt it would be the same with E-mount version, due to short flange distance of these mirrorless cams, which greatly reduces the complexity of WA lenses.”
That is news to me!!
Have you ever seen such horrible shaped (dubbed as “hexagonal” though aren’t) OOF highlights? I have not. CA is terrible as well.
I really hope someone who knows how to make a decent fisheye would make it and offer it for the E-mount. These images are just terrible.
@Vivek.
One idiot noticed something, interpret this wrong and then another idiot spread BS around. It’s your case. The second character is you
First, bokeh is the last thing to bear in mind when comparing fisheyes.
Second, these shots were taken at ISO6400 and this eliminated any sharpness by definition.
Third, the only hexagonal thing I noticed is ghost. Ghosts handling doesn’t seem to be excellent: but I have very high expectations here, after using some Pentax glasses (DA 15Ltd, DA 10-17 fisheye, FA* 24, FA 43Ltd and 31Ltd, etc). Pentax lenses are really stellar in this aspect. But it’s good enough. If these shots are typical I can state ghosts handling is about the same level of CZ and Leica lenses.
Fourth, where is CA on these shots? You must be blind (or stupid, or too fat).
I guess you are a m43 fanboy.
Denis:
You are calling the guy who tested it, the Admin who reported the “hexagonal” OOF highlight and me as idiots?
Are you selling Rokinon/Samyang/Wallimex brands?
Name calling won’t sell your lenses. 🙂
FWIW, I am not blind, stupid or fat.
AFAIC, Rokinon is off my list, forever. 😉
Which one is better? E-mount or m43 version? 🙂
I think the m4/3rds version (7.5mm) is better but the Panasonic fisheye is so many times better than that despite the higher price (worth every penny!) and the bigger size.
Ask testers. It’s stupid to make assumptions today, until first user reviews.
lenstip reviewed the m43 version very favorably.
http://www.lenstip.com/317.11-Lens_review-Samyang_7.5_mm_f_3.5_UMC_Fish-eye_MFT_Summary.html
Saw that review of the m43 version a while back and it is fairly consistent with what others have found: basically, it is good especially considering the price.
Thus, I don’t really have much confidence in this review of the NEX version. Bokeh doesn’t really matter, fish eyes rarely can use filter, and the blue tint is probably not the lens’s fault entirely. I mean, the NEX-7 has issues with certain wide angle lenses. So, the NEX-5N even with it’s microlenses probably behave similarly with a lens this wide being very close to the sensor.
That said, I do wonder how different the lens is. Both focal and aperture are different from the m43 version.
Wrong place 🙂